Astrojanitor

"the horror..."--Apocalypse Now

"That the most partially formed human embryo is both human and alive has now been confirmed, in an especially vivid sense, by the new debate over stem-cell research and the bioethics of cloning" http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2003/02/hitchens200302 Hitchens stated that "[an] unborn child seems to me to be a real concept. It's not a growth or an appendix, You can't say the rights question doesn't come up. I don't think a woman should be forced to choose, or even can be." Although holding a pro-life position, Hitchens opposed the overturning of Roe v. Wade, stating, "that will make abortion more like a contraceptive procedure than a surgical one. That's the Hitchens plank, and I think it's a defensible one." Hitchens took a middle path by affirming that he is pro-life and believing a fetus should be regarded as an "unborn child", but opposing the overturning of Roe v. Wade, supporting the development of medical abortion techniques, and fundamentally believing in access to contraceptives and reproductive rights in order to prevent surgical abortion altogether.[24] He strongly criticized the encouragement of sexual abstinence within the pro-life movement of the Christian Right.[25] Hitchens was a notable genital integrity activist, strongly criticizing the tradition of male circumcision, which he regarded as male genital mutilation, and entirely comparable with female genital cutting. In collaboration with his antitheism, Hitchens wrote of this subject in God Is Not Great citing the tolerance of the removal of the male foreskin which he viewed as equal to the mutilation of the female clitoris in tribal Animist societies of Africa, as due to tolerance of religious doctrine within society.[26] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Hitchens%27s_political_views I was wrong on Roe v Wade, but right on his CONSERVATIVE viewpoint on abortion

great, and we signed another nerd off of the jets practice squad. Paying money for dudes who can't even make other teams. Way to do it, front office

Hitchins was deeply pro-life and thought Roe v Wade should be reversed. Also the bulk of his foreign policy beliefs aligned with the neo-con agenda. now stop complaining, you don't know what you're talking about.

yup, nailed it. Though I'd prefer Hasselbeck kept her shirt on and maybe just shoved a second shirt in her mouth. The great thing about Hitchins, and why I never fully bought his neo-con conversion, is the same thing that makes Colbert a genius. Being a wildcard keep pundits from being able to fall back on easy talking points. Being kept on your toes separates the fools (Hannity) from those who actually have thought out convictions as opposed to knee jerk reactions (Maher).

yeah, I don't know. I do know Trump calls her a fat pig all the time. it gets kind of hilarious every time he harps on it. Always for no good reason. Maher is not someone I'm a fan of, but then I find all libertarians pretty insufferable.

he's referring to the weird vendetta Trump has against Rosie O'Donnell. Trump calls her a fat pig and a loser on a pretty regular basis, which then gets defended by the Fox News crew as "satire" or whatever. Though I will say Maher crossed the line wishing what happened to...Lara Logan, is that it?...to Hasselbeck.

SI kind of addressed this today: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/writers/jim_trotter/12/07/quarterback.ratings/index.html?xid=cnnbin Fitz is listed as #16 in the league. Right behind Matt Ryan and before Andy Dalton.

couldn't say it better myself. Fitz gets all the blame, but did he give the Cowboys 44 points? Dolphins 35? Does he allow opposing offenses walk down the field and score every single time? Far as I'm concerned Fitz is at the bottom of the good QB pile. Yeah there's like 10 or so guys better, but this is the best the offense has looked in years. Get some real WR talent to help out and see what's up. But if you actually watch the games the Defense is clearly the number one problem.

no, but its not like elite QBs are just dancing around for the taking. If Aaron Rodgers wants to come to Buffalo I say let's do it. But seeing as that is never going to happen I say maybe let's not chase the best QB we've had in a decade out of town just yet

Chris Eigeman always nails this kind of role and never gets enough work. Go be Eigeman's Tarantino and make him the star he should be.

I see Edwards getting the boot. Chan has at least another year, maybe two, and Buddy will be in charge until the day after new owners take over

+1. Great post. It drives me crazy to see so many posts from people complaining about our needing an elite QB. They barely exist. I'd love to luck into an Aaron Rodgers as much as the next guy, but Fitz is easily the best we've had since the 90s. This is the most exciting offense I've seen in years. Hardly perfect and with the odd mistake that makes me tear what's left of my hair out, but at least its exciting/competitive. Once the FO wakes up and provides some depth/support we can count on playoff runs. Success attracts better free agents and away we go. Far as I'm concerned anyone who wants to ride Fitz out of town is just not paying attention. I had actually stopped watching when Trent was playing, now I'm as involved as I was in the 90s. Far as I'm concerned that alone makes him a massive success.

Paste is pretty good. Don't think it exists in a physical format anymore, but they always favored "grown up" indie rock and americana. It's really the place to go for recommendations on more sophisticated pop and roots music. I just got that War On Drugs LP yesterday and it is incredible. Figure an odd mix between early 80's Springsteen, 90s Tom Petty and krautrock. Kurt Vile used to play guitar for them before going solo. If it's worth anything, if I had to make a top 10 for the year now (without really thinking about it and in no real order): 1)The Donkeys: Born With Stripes 2)Wild Flag: s/t 3)Rocket From The Tombs: Barfly 4)War on Drugs: Slave Ambient 5)Mannequin Men: s/t 6)!@#$ed Up: David Comes to Life 7)Boston Spaceships: Let it Beard/Mars Classroom: New Theory of Everything (Bob Pollard has put out 5 good records this year, but these two are the best) 8)Thee Oh Sees: Castlemania 9)Wet Illustrated: 1x1x1 10)Psandwich: Northern Psych

no worries there man, the comic is radically different. If the show followed the plot of the comic we would have been on the farm for 1 episode. Also, the series as a whole would be non stop crazed lunacy. last episode was pretty good. Especially enjoyed seeing Shane start getting real and wake everyone up. These dummies are far too passive aggressive for an end of the world zombie meltdown. SPOILER enjoyed seeing zombie Sophia walk out/get shot. I assumed she was in the barn seeing that the entire show became about the barn for the last couple weeks and the show is not smart enough to keep multiple plots humming. Glad to see them try to re-establish life and death stakes. In the comics these people are getting eaten left and right...really want to show to act the same

personally I never thought JP stood a chance. The guy just can't think fast enough. Doesn't matter who the coach is. If he could be guaranteed 5-6 seconds in the pocket he could be pretty good. But once the defense starts swarming he falls to pieces.

the answer is farmer's daughter. All other suggestions are insane

I say we already had, and failed with, Trent Edwards. We don't need his slightly better clone

I sort of agree. I don't think Fitz gets a pass (pun!) these last few weeks. He has not played well at all. he's really been responsible for some garbage passes. But I also do not think he is the disaster some do. The lack of separation, the drops, the beat up WR corps, poor play calling, losing his center....all this stuff adds up. Although every team is suffering injuries this time of year most teams have thought ahead and added depth. Something the Bills chose not to do. Let's just say if the football genie said I could change 5 things about the team Fitz would not be one of those things. Sure it would be fun to have a Rodgers or Brees...but that is just not going to happen. Based on realistic options available to Buffalo, Fitz is the best we are going to get until the team turns competitive. Or, god forbid, these monkeys learn how to draft. I have always felt Fitz is the best guy to mentor the person who gets us back to the super bowl. Despite the last month I still feel that way. The flameout is out of his hands.

You're exactly right. It's hard to blame Fitz too much when the WR crew drops over 10 passes on sunday. I am a Fitz fan and I think he has not been playing all that well these last few weeks, but the biggest problem on offense is a pile of dummies who refuse to catch a ball.

That may be what they are trying to do, but it's not working out very well. Think proof is so few people remember character names. In this thread they are getting described as "old man" and "cop #2". They spend all this time developing characters and we still have a bunch of one-dimensional archetypes. Therefore the old man acts even more like an old man, bad cop acts like a crazy person, distraught blonde is borderline suicidal, moral center (rick) is an ineffectual reactionary...etc etc. So in lieu of characters that matter we are stuck with several weeks worth of propping up cliches. It's making watching the show such an empty experience. A drag since there is so much potential. And if it does indeed take place over three days that opens up a whole new set of problems. Look at how well carl is doing. A kid is going to be up and running around 3 days after being shot? 2 days after a surgery done under those circumstances? I realize reality is not something I should turn to during zombie fiction...but you have to make sense at least. I got the impression they've been hanging around for several weeks based on the depth of glenn's relationship and Carl's progress. But I'm sure I'm wrong, I really do think they are claiming this is going down over the course of a holiday weekend. absolutely, the show is so powerful when it interacts with the world. Probably my favorite sequence ever in a film is the rural airport scene in the original Dawn of the Dead. Some of the details in that scene are devastating...in particular the note left on a pizza box. Such a true detail. Walking Dead hits little details like that all of the time. Also why its so frustrating watching them dick around in a field for the past three weeks. Listening to them bicker is irritating, few zombies and nothing interesting to look at.

this site cracks me up. they are linked with last.fm so the choices get pretty deep. Pretty much anyone with a professionally produced single in on the list. My roommates band is even an option (their drink? 8oz of rum). My favorite though is longtime awesome Rochester band Muler. Their drink is 6oz of marijuana. Which sounds about right to me.

she took the pills, changed her mind, and then the two of them started shrieking at each other. The characters don't have interesting shades to the personalities...nothing seems to be thought out, discussed and placed into the logic of the situation. During that conversation did Rick have any concern for his wife? Was there any closeness between the two? No, just a judgmental dink yelling at a harpie. It makes the scene so shallow because it really doesn't respect the history between the characters. We are talking about a husband and wife whose love propelled season one, a little bit of tenderness would just make sense. Same thing is going on with Shane (cop #2). Since shooting otis he has been acting like a sociopath. The conflict isn't being folded into Shane's previously established personality...he shoots Otis and now we have a brand new character who happens to look exactly like Shane. The melodrama works when the characters are fighting to survive. However they are (physically) in a safe and calm place, yet everyone's spazz dial is still set to 11. It's an exhausting way to deal with conflict since the behaviors don't make sense in context. All the yelling and crying is great awards bait, but it's totally derailing the show. Right now the show is like Desperate Housewives...except for about 2 minutes every week when teri hatcher offs a zombie. I'm pretty sure the popularity of the show is now because dudes are willing to sit through a lot in the name of watching a zombie attack. It's all zombie porn but we're being forced to dissect the motivations of the pool boy. Or pizza delivery guy..nurse...I don't know, other porn occupation. I can see this being a possibility based solely on how cheap the show looks now. I know darabont's exit had a lot to do with money...perhaps he balked at wasting so much time in one location just spinning wheels. You see the same problem with Hell on Wheels. Not a bad show, but the whole thing takes place in a field. Kind of boring to look at. I was hoping this season was going to be like a long road movie. Having been familiar with the books, I thought they'd play up the nomadic aspect of their lives with season three taking place...I won't spoil the books...in the destination they end up in. But no, we are just going to stand outside and mope over some girl I would not be able to recognize if I saw again. The best way to judge genre tv is: would you still watch if the central gimmick was gone? If we were told there would be no more zombies, rather these knuckleheads were just going to make a new society for the rest of the series, I highly doubt any of us would be tuning back in.

It's gotten to the point where I genuinely do not care about this show any more. The first ep of the season was pretty good, but the last few have just been a bunch of idiots standing around complaining. And seriously, how long are we looking for this girl? It's not like she was any sort of major character beforehand so there is no way anyone in the audience is emotionally involved in the search. So yeah, plot is going nowhere. More than that every character complains incessantly/acts without logic. I mean honestly, who on earth would advocate going through a pregnancy IN THE MIDDLE OF A ZOMBIE HOLOCAUST?!? Really no one sees the downside of a crying infant or an 8 month pregnant woman trying to outrun the marauding hordes of the undead? I realize dropping the a-bomb pisses off the silent majority(kind of like our zombies...but with progress)but there isn't going to be any form of honest conversation about the logistics of post-apocalyptic pregnancy? We just go straight to the judgmental tongue lashing? And really, do morning after pills just have the words "morning after pills" printed on the front of the package? And if Herschel won't let them stay on the farm fine, but there is another farm like half a mile away. The house is always slightly in the distance. Just go there. Hey look, I just secured safe haven in the end times. Such a frustrating show because the concept is great, the comics are good enough, but the show is a disaster. Think we need to start thinning out the cast. This endless search has killed (pun!) the momentum. It no longer feels like the stakes are life and death which makes all the histrionics that much more unpalatable. Let the walkers in the barn loose and chomp a good 4-5 people out of my misery.

Losman is a Dolphin now? Weird, when did that happen?